Festivities to mark Hispanic Heritage Month

NEW BEDFORD — Honoring National Hispanic Heritage Month, the city will see an array of events next weekend, beginning with a flag-raising at City Hall, followed by a parade through the city and a festival at Hazelwood Park.

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By SIMÓN RIOS

southcoasttoday.com

By SIMÓN RIOS

Posted Aug. 4, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By SIMÓN RIOS

Posted Aug. 4, 2014 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

NEW BEDFORD — Honoring National Hispanic Heritage Month, the city will see an array of events next weekend, beginning with a flag-raising at City Hall, followed by a parade through the city and a festival at Hazelwood Park.

"This year we have a huge variety," said Angie Vargas, president of the Puerto Rican and Latin American Art and Culture Committee, which is organizing the events.

"For us this is a way of unifying ourselves, and celebrating together our culture and our pride. It's a voice screaming: 'We're finally making it together.'"

Under the theme "Building Bridges and Unifying our Latinos," the festivities begin at City Hall at 4 p.m. Thursday. The flags of all the Latin American countries, in addition to the U.S. and Puerto Rico, will be carried by children and put on display.

On Saturday and Sunday, the Latino Beach Cultural Festival will take place, with a large slate of musicians from different Latin American countries.

One of the performers is Randy Gabriel, a 13-year-old singer from Puerto Rico. Gabriel will perform styles including salsa and trova, an improvisational form of musical poetry.

"It's always an honor to participate," said the boy's father, Randy Diaz, over the phone from Puerto Rico. "We're going to sing to the Hispanic community."

Vargas listed more than 16 musicians and DJs who will perform over the two-day festival, playing everything from Salvadoran band music to folkloric Puerto Rican rhythms to reggaeton, salsa, merenque and bachata.

The festival will also feature a competition of kites, as well as kiosks with crafts and food from El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic.

The parade will begin forming at 9 a.m. on Sunday, at New Bedford District Court and Kempton Street. Departing at 11, it will end at Hazelwood Park, followed by the beach festival, which starts at noon.